In the telecommunications industry telephone cable is introduced to individual telephone sites such as residences, mainly through use of a splice of the signal wires of the cable to respective house wires at a junction located outside or inside the house. The junction is housed within a protective enclosure which is mounted usually to an outside wall of the house.
One example of a terminal block for interconnecting a pair of wires is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,302. A dielectric housing has two generally tubular terminal-receiving sections, each having a center post therein defining an annular cavity. A barrel-shaped terminal is movably disposed within each cavity adjacent the center post, and includes connecting sections for two wires to be spliced; each connection section is of the insulation piercing or displacement type that eliminates the need for stripping the insulation from the wire conductors. A tubular actuator is also mounted to the housing and is adapted to be rotated between actuated and unactuated positions to rotate the rotatable terminal.
A pair of wire-receiving apertures extend through apertures through the housing wall of each cavity, through apertures of the terminal and the actuator, and at least into a center post aperture, all aligned in an unactuated state for a wire end to be inserted thereinto. During splicing, the wire ends of both wires are inserted into respective openings and through the terminal apertures and at least into the center post apertures until stopped by abutment with corresponding stop surfaces of the housing which then holds the wire ends at two spaced locations, both outside and within the terminal wall. Upon rotation of the terminal by the actuator about a quarter turn, slot walls of the terminal extending circumferentially from the terminal apertures pierce the wire insulation of respective wires, and the constricted edges of the precisely profiled slot engage the wires' conductors, completing the splice.
One advantage of the terminal block of U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,302 is that it has a modular nature and is self-sufficient to crossconnect two cables: the same housing has two terminals therein for crossconnecting the tip and ring wires of the distribution cable with corresponding tip and ring wires of the service cable, and the housing member can be selectively mounted in an enclosure adapted for a plurality of such modules.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/955,535 filed Oct. 1, 1992 and assigned to the assignee hereof discloses a similar terminal block containing sealing material embedding the barrel terminal and the wire ends inserted into the terminal block, especially sealing material having a gel-like consistency. A tape element is disclosed to be affixed to the outer surface of the housing traversing the wire-receiving apertures and containing holes therethrough smaller in diameter than the nominal wire diameter; the tape is tough and durable with elastic properties to be stretched by the wire upon insertion through the holes and into the terminal block aperture for termination, with the tape thereafter tightly gripping the wire insulation preventing sealing material from being withdrawn from the terminal block upon removal of a wire end.
It is desired to provide a terminal block with internal commoning between the terminals, thus commoning all conductors terminated within the housing.
It is also desired to provide such a terminal block adapted to terminate a plurality of wires without requiring stripping of insulation therefrom.
It is further desired to provide such a terminal block that inherently seals the splice connections, and enables the removal and replacement of one or more wire ends as desired and inherently reseals the resultant splice as well.